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Blunt warns of consequences of big government

WASHINGTON (3/3/11)--Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) told a Credit Union National Association 2011 Governmental Affairs audience that more governmental regulation creates uncertainty and “unintended consequences” for the financial services industry. “With these new bureaus that are being created,” Blunt said, “you can be guaranteed that the unintended consequences will not be what people thought. And the unintended consequences of government are the most certain consequences.” Coming out of the financial crisis, Blunt said, the U.S. economy requires more certainty. He cautioned against a “rush to regulate.” One of the unintended consequences he referred to was higher fees that could result from the Federal Reserve's proposed debit interchange rule that is opposed by credit unions. “Higher fees are going to force more people into the unbanked community, and nobody benefits from that,” Blunt said. He repeatedly called for less governmental intervention in American business and the everyday lives of American consumers. “We are at critical moment of deciding what kind of country we are going to live in,” Blunt said. "Are we going to live in a country where the government is bigger than the people? Or the people are bigger than the government?" He said issues such as the interchange proposal are examples of overregulation in the wake of the financial crisis, when the big banks deemed too big to fail were bailed out by the government. “We can’t have the federal government saying it’s okay for big banks to lose money, but it’s not okay to earn money,” Blunt said.